While cleaning up the Elefun game after deciding she didn't want to play anymore, and while Connor was starting to get into the butterflies, Izzy tells him, "Consadurations Connor but you can't play this anymore. I can teach you how to play baseball though!"

While visiting my sister-in-law's new house, Mikayla started screaming bloody murder. Nana asked, "Do you have a sliver?" Mikayla while still screaming and sobbing, "No, I have a stick under my skin!!"

We had wild rice casserole for dinner, and Izzy decided to play with it for some reason, making a huge mess and getting it all over her hands. This was her prayer at the end of dinner,"Dear God, thank you for my food, thank you for my family, thank you for my friends, and thank you for being messy! Amen"

Mikayla was writing a story on the computer, and we had just talked about semicolons, when she announced to me that, "I think if I have a boy when I grow up I'll name him Colon, that sounds like a good name." Upon further discussion she decided that perhaps Collin was a better name for a little boy.

Izzy, while playing with little Beauty and the Beast figures:"I can show you the ways of being a normal person. Pick berries, read, wash your hands a lot... "all said with a British accent.

I asked the kids what they like to dream about, Izzy answered,"Princesses.... Meat.... My family....."

Last night we were at my cousins' house and they had a very large family picture framed and hung on the wall. Mikayla looked at it and casually said, "They must have taken that picture with a really big camera."

Daycare Boy after ghost hunting: "I wish I had a pet dinosaur made out of mud!" Because clearly only mud dinosaurs would protect him.

Connor trying to say the word "helicopter":"Bobbicocker"

Izzy randomly asks,"Why did God give us a head?"

Connor heard the outer door getting blown open by the wind and, startled, asks "Who's coming?". Like the good mom I am I say very surprised like, "Monsters are coming" and continues to stare. So I say, "Robots are coming!" Very seriously Connor tells me,"How about Care bears are coming!"

On the way to gymnastics we played a game, here's an excerpt:

Me - "Something I want you to do, it starts with an F, ends with an S, and has a C in the middle"

Mikayla - "Frapaccinos!!!" (intended word was Focus)

Me - "Something I want you to have... I want you to have__"

Izzy - "Babies!!!!" (intended word was FUN!)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

January of 2009 I found myself unemployed. People all over were losing their jobs, and this effected me... the daycare provider, since if there was no job to go to there was no need for childcare. I was getting calls from parents looking for daycare, but I was due to have a baby less than 3 months later, no one wanted to enroll until after my maternity leave.

Suddenly down an income and expecting our third child, it was time to cut costs. We cut down on a lot of things like going out to eat, entertainment, cable, auto insurance (yay Progressive!), almost everything we could, including finding ways to stretch a dollar at the grocery store.

My husband is a sewer and drain cleaner and has insisted on 1-ply toilet paper since we moved in together, so I found myself the perfect 1-ply - Cottonelle. I loved that toilet paper because it wasn't like the stuff you find in public bathrooms and schools, but it made my husband happy. The only problem with that stuff is the fact that we have a lot of people going to the bathroom everyday at our house, and we were burning through toilet paper likenobody's business! In the spirit of cutting back I bought a big pack of Scott toilet paper.

I was adamant about not using this stuff before. It was thin and flimsy and it takes more sheets to...um...do what it does than other toilet paper. I can't believe I'm talking about this!! But we were cutting back and I was going to sacrifice. What I found out was this: A roll of Scott toilet paper lasts forever compared to my precious Cottonelle!!! I used to buy toilet paper all the time, but no weekly pack of toilet paper anymore! And this giant pack I bought recently (that I haven't had to open yet) will last us about 14 years or so! Well, maybe a little less, but, you get the idea!

I generally buy store brand whenever I possibly can, and I've found that several of the Target brand items I buy - I actually prefer over the name brand! One example: I am a big fan of the Market Pantry milk at Target!

Also while trying to pinch pennies I gave the plain looking loaves of bread at the bottom of the shelves a chance.

I wasn't expecting to like this bread, it was only about 74 cents per loaf, but I was pleasantly surprised! I actually like this bread just as much as the bigger brands of wheat bread and it's dirt cheap which is good since we go through about 4 loaves per week!

I've also recently switched Little Man from Luvs diapers to Target's Up and Up diapers, and I like them better for him! I think they fit him better than the Luvs did. I'm not a fan of Huggies at all, but I do like Pampers diapers, but when you look at the price difference per diaper Pampers are just ridiculously expensive for something they're going to wear for just a couple hours or less before it gets changed. Little Man also drank Up and Up formula back when he was using bottles. I want to say the Up and Up formula was about $10 cheaper per can than the name brand can... with identical nutrition info!!

I also tried to be a coupon user, but haven't gotten myself disciplined enough to find them, print them, remember to use them, etc. A huge money saver was planning all our meals for the week and making one trip to the store rather than 3 or 4!

I hope you enjoyed my ramblings about toilet paper, milk, bread, and baby stuff! And just for the sake of keeping with the toilet paper topic... I changed 7poopy diapers today between the 2 babies! SEVEN!

My Kids' Blog Nicknames

My 12 yr old (02)- Mikayla - Sweet Pea

My 8 yr old (06) - Isabelle (Izzy) - Babydoll

My 5 yr old (09)- Connor - Little Man

I USED TO HAVE A BRAIN

A blog about the projects, adventures, and antics that go along with having 3 kids, multiple daycare kids, my husband Spencer, a golden retriever, and a cat. I take care of my kids, I take care of my husband, I take care of our pets, I take care of the house, I take care of my daycare kids... and I enjoy coffee.